Canning Green Beans

We raw pack our beans. To raw pack your beans,

 1. The first thing to canning beans is wash the beans, and trim of the ends, and break into 1-to-2 inch pieces.

2. Next you pack the beans tightly into hot jars, leaving a 1/2-inch head space.

3.Then add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to each jar for pint jars and 1 teaspoon to quart jars.

4. Fill jars with boiling water within half an inch of the top of the jar.

5. Remove air bubbles.

6. Then you wipe off your jar lids and adjust them.

7. You process them in a pressure canner at 10 pounds of pressure. (240 f) you can them for 20 minutes if they are pint jars and 25 minutes for quart jars.

Old farm houses need a lot of work

When we first laid eyes on our Appalachian farmhouse, we thought it was charming.  We overlooked all the work it was going to take to get it fixed up. The only things we saw were the beautiful creek, the open farmland and the hardwood forest that covered the mountains behind the house. We could not wait to get a veggie garden planted, lots of blueberries bushes put in and the orchard finely finished. We tried not to notice the house. We put in a driveway added a retaining wall and put up our farm sign. Lots of flowers were planted and it looks great Oh there's that house again, we need to work on it. But right now let's plant some sugar cane that will be fun! Oh and let's add some strawberries too, we could build some beds for them. We needed to tear down some old buildings that could not be repaired. When we would be busy on all the other things the house just sat as it had for almost a hundred years. Three years later we are forced to take a long hard look at all the work that needs to be done on the farmhouse.  Where do we start? There is so much to do but if you know us you will not be surprised to find out we started with the kitchen. It is the heart of any home after all. We would love to do a total redo on the kitchen. But for now redoing some cabinets so we could have a place to put the refrigerator was at the top of the list of things to do. Then we painted the cabinets white so it is looking great. More on the kitchen later.  The house needed some work we that we had not planned on. Surprise!  It does not just need painting that would be too easy. There is lots of rotten siding that will need to be replaced. The good news is that we are starting on the outside of the house, siding is being replaced and the paint is going up. We decided on a dark green color with white trim. The best part will be the bright red front door. We can't wait till it is finished!  We will keep you updated, more to come!

Pole Beans

Early this summer we planted Fortex pole beans. We set up cow panels in ends in an arch shape. T-post were set in the ground to hold the panels in the right shape. We planted the young bean plants on the inside of the arches. We also wrapped chicken wire around the whole arch, hoping this would at least hold back the deer and rabbits somewhat. Well, let me tell you they for evermore started growing some beans! Fortex is Grand's favorite pole beans and she is really old! Not really, we just thought that would make her laugh.  Now back to the beans, as you can see in the pictures Fortex makes beans galore and many are over a foot long. Yep! a foot long. and even at that size, they are still tender and just delicious. Pole beans also produce over a long period of time so we were able to eat our fill. Grands makes the best green beans and new potatoes you have ever tasted. She first fries a piece of bacon in the pot she cooks the beans in. Then adds a chopped onion and cooks it with the bacon. When the onion is tender add the green beans and cover with water. Boil till as tender as you like your green beans. Add potatoes and cook them till done all the way through Best green beans ever!  No matter how good much we enjoy these green beans you can only eat so many. But thank goodness Grand canned some for winter. Grand has been canning green beans for over fifty years. If you would like to know how she does it please check out our Cooking with Grand page.